Day is fairest as it wanes

Day is fairest as it wanes.
All the love that heaven contains
lies collected in a darkling glow
spread out over
earth, our home below.

All is tenderness and gentle hands.
God himself erases distant strands
All is nearby, all is far away.
All is given
to us for a day.

All is mine, all will be taken from me
Soon enough all will be taken from me:
trees and clouds, the very ground I pace.
I shall wander
off without a trace.

–after Pär Lagerkvist

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Bill Coyle

Bill Coyle is a doctoral candidate at Boston University’s Editorial Institute.  His book The God of This World to His Prophet, won the New Criterion Poetry Prize in 2006. His most recent publication is a volume of translations of the Swedish poet Håkan Sandell, Dog Star Notations: Selected Poems 1999-2016.

Also by Bill Coyle (see all)

• It never ceases to unnerve me - October 8, 2018
• Day is fairest as it wanes - October 8, 2018
• from Light So Late - June 24, 2018

Author: Bill Coyle

Bill Coyle is a doctoral candidate at Boston University’s Editorial Institute.  His book The God of This World to His Prophet, won the New Criterion Poetry Prize in 2006. His most recent publication is a volume of translations of the Swedish poet Håkan Sandell, Dog Star Notations: Selected Poems 1999-2016. View all posts by Bill Coyle